Makeup artist continues to defend blackface as art, not racism

Russian makeup artist Sergey Lyubimov just did blackface for his latest Instagram transformation and remains unapologetic about it.

The Moscow-based beauty guru, who posts to an Instagram called @notcatart, has a following of more than 23,000 people and is known for doing wild transformations. But his latest took it way too far. In a video originally posted on Saturday, Lyubimov is seen completely altering his skin tone with makeup. The caption reads, “WHITE TO DARK,” and nobody thinks it’s OK.

“I love skin of all colors and this look is inspired from it,” Lyubimov’s caption continues. “That we all are beautiful… And I wanna show you how it’s beautiful.”

The entire video is characterized by Lyubimov’s taunting personality, as he plays Yo Gotti’s “Rake It Up” and finishes the look with a set of grilles on his teeth, mimicking exaggerated facial expressions. But the way that he responded to comments after posting the video is what really illustrates his hateful demeanor.

After Lyubimov blocked comments from his page, outraged Instagram users took to another account, @notcatart_canceled, to post screenshots of Lyubimov’s disrespectful images and words, while Twitter users have expressed a voice of their own.

Despite the response that Lyubimov has received since first posting the offensive content, he most recently reposted his solo shot on Monday night, writing, “I will posted it again and again…”

The continued effort to go up against his critics is also seen throughout his frequently updated Instagram story, where he writes statements such as “Let artists be artists” while also sharing his Instagram stats that display an increased following — though that is more likely due to people looking to leave angry comments and direct messages.

When Yahoo Lifestyle reached out to Lyubimov, he seemed flattered by the attention and even asked to be paid in order to provide a comment (which Yahoo did not do). By the looks of the content that he has yet to remove from his page or apologize for, he’s said enough.